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CS Professionals Hatchery Curriculum (CS-HU)

Based on feedback from industry, the Computer Science Department has committed to offering several short courses (known as CS Hatchery Units) focusing on professional skills relevant to the industry. The skills presented in these hatchery units courses will be used in other computer science courses. Refer to the table below for a short description of the grouping of professional skills relevant to the industry.

The majority of the new hatchery unit courses will be required starting with the Fall 2018 CS catalog. Students following an earlier CS catalog will need to review their courses to ensure any newly added Hatchery Unit course CO/PREREQs are satisfied. Upper division students that will have completed CS 321 by end of fall 2017 would have no impact on their degree plan. Some of the new hatchery unit courses may still be of interest to these upper division students.

Lower division students, particularly those in the 2016-2017 or 2017-18 catalog will benefit by switching to the 2018-2019 catalog when it becomes available Spring 2018(see FAQs for instruction on how to do this).

To take advantage of these additional 5 new hatchery unit courses, the requirement for a second semester of science coursework (4-5 credits) has been dropped in the 2018-2019 catalog (3 required science courses have been reduced to 2 in different fields of study). Additionally any university approved FH Literature and Humanities course may be taken as the PHIL 102 course will no longer be a requirement in the 2018-2019 catalog.

Review the 2018-2019 Degree Requirements (for Bachelors and CS Minor) as well as the 2018-2019 Finish-in-Four plan or Finish-in-Four with co/pre-req to see where the new hatchery unit courses fit into the curriculum. Please refer to the figure below to see how the required CS-HU courses align with the lower division CS courses. NOTE: Catalog descriptions can be found after the FAQ section on this page. Note that CS 230 has additional pre-reqs not shown below for simplicity sake.

CS-HU Curriculum Change Implications for Students

This table is a summary of the curriculum changes as a result of the Hatchery Unit courses. Students should utilize this information when planning their future course work to ensure all new course co/prereqs have been satisfied. We recommend students plan their coursework not only for the current semester, but to evaluate the co/prereqs for the following semester to ensure they complete the prereqs.

NOTE: An "*" indicates this change is in final curriculum committee review and is expected to be approved Spring 2018.

Frequently Asked Questions

Based on feedback from valued industry partners, the CS department will be offering and requiring several new short (1-credit) courses called “Hatchery Units,” which are focused on important professional skills relevant to industry.

These new courses along with future course modifications are designed to cover and highlight specific skills identified by a group of 17 industry partners. In some cases, the skills have been pulled out of existing CS courses to highlight their importance and the content enhanced in the HU, and these skills threaded into subsequent CS course enhancements.

Here is how a graduating senior summarized the Hatchery Unit courses:

“I think this is awesome! I’ve talked to several students that think one of the missing classes is the program was basic system access and file control (a pre-253 class). I think that CS-HU 153 and 250 will cover it. Students eventually learn these skills (some better than others) out of necessity. I think making sure that everyone gets exposure to these topics early on will help future students a lot.”

The short answer is no. However, the new CS-HU courses teach useful professional skills that you may find valuable, and these courses can be used to satisfy your additional CS course requirements.The chair will allow you to substitute any three 1-credit CS-HU courses for a single 3-credit CS additional course. This only applies to students on catalogs earlier than 2018-2019.

The 2018-2019 catalog drops the requirement for the second semester science coursework (4-5 credits) to accommodate the new Hatchery unit courses.

This implies you won’t need PHYS 212/212L or CHEM 112/112L.

You need two overall science courses in two different fields.

So, if you have taken PHYS 211 and 212 (or CHEM 111 and 112), you will need another science course in a different field.

NOTES:

Switching to the 2018-2019 degree plan requires that you take 5 required hatchery units courses.

If you switch catalogs and have already taken the second semester science course, these credits can be applied to your general elective requirements.

Once the 2018-2019 catalog becomes available during the spring semester, meet with your advisor to confirm this is a good option for you. The catalog is published in March and is available early April.

Once reviewed with your advisor, change your catalog by submitting the Catalog Year Update Form to the Registrar’s Office. NOTE: In order to switch to this catalog, you must be graduating Fall 2018 or later.

Yes, co/prereq changes are effective no matter the catalog the student is using! Refer to the course descriptions for the co/prereqs for any course you plan to register for.Beginning Fall 2018: CS 230, CS 253, and CS 321 will have additional co/prereqs:

CS 230 — new prereq CS-HU 130 (take in S’18 to be able to take CS 230 in F’18), PHIL 102 prereq is being dropped. Other prereqs for CS 230 will stay the same.

CS 253 — new coreq CS-HU 250; however, CS-HU 250 has CS-HU 153 as a prereq. Other prereqs for 253 will stay the same

Take CS-HU 153 in spring 2018 if you plan to take CS 253 in fall 2018.

CS 321 — new coreqs are CS-HU 271 and CS-HU 310 (available S’18 and F’18). Other prereqs for CS 321 will stay the same.

If you take any of the above courses before Fall 2018 (Spring’18 or Summer’18), then you will be able to skip some or all of the new hatchery unit course pre/co-reqs.

NOTES:

What is a co-req? According to the catalog, a co-req is a condition that must be met either in the same semester or in an earlier semester.

To encourage students to take these CS-HU courses, the chair will allow you to substitute any three 1-credit CS-HU courses for a single 3-credit CS additional course. So you can take three CS-HU courses, such as CS-HU 130, 271, and 390 (a total of 3 credit hours) and substitute these for one of your CS additional courses. This only applies to students on catalogs earlier than 2018-2019.

NEW:The above now also applies to the Cybersecurity emphasis.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities (KSA) Categories

The following table provides a high level grouping of the key Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities identified with 17 industry partners. These KSAs form the basis for creation of the new 1-credit Hatchery Unit courses and enhancements to current computer science courses.

Category

Description

Technical

Practical knowledge associated with the computing field

Professional

A person engaged or qualified in the computing profession

Collaboration & Teams

Working with other people and groups to achieve a goal

Research & Development

Seeks innovation, introduction, and improvement of products and processes

Entrepreneurship

Organizes, manages, and assumes risks of a business or enterprise

Business

An understanding of how a company makes money and executes it strategy

Catalog Descriptions

NOTE: A Hatchery Unit (CS-HU) course is a short 1-credit course to develop specific professional skills for computer science.

CS-HU 130 Foundational Values (1-0-1)(F,S). Foundational values for computer science students and professionals include knowledge, skills, and values supporting the inclusion of diverse individuals in all aspects of the discipline. Students learn how to develop and adapt a social contract that enhances one’s ability to create and maintain a diverse, inclusive, and socially-just learning and working environment. Students also reflectively apply their new social contract in prototype situations that they encounter as computer science students and professionals.

NOTE:This course is a PREREQ for CS 230 Fall 2018 onward.

CS-HU 153 Navigating Computer Systems (1-0-1)(F,S). Effective use of operating systems. Creating and using virtual machines. Installation and management of software packages. Basic command-line environment, filesystem layout, commands for navigating and manipulating systems, file permissions and security, filters, and an introduction to shell scripting. A Hatchery Unit (HU) course is a short course to develop specific professional skills for computer science. PREREQ: CS 121 and CS 121L. (The first offering of this course is Spring 2018)

CS-HU 250 Introduction to Version Control (1-0-1)(F,S). Introduction to the central ideas, practices, and day to day usage of software version control. Brief history with practical examples using Git, Mercurial, or Subversion. Basic client side usage such as committing, branching, merging, pull-request as well as more advanced usage. Server side operations such as commit hooks and toolchain integrations will be explored. A Hatchery Unit (HU) course is a short course to develop specific professional skills for computer science. PREREQ: CS-HU 153. (The first offering of this course is Fall 2018)

NOTE:This course is a COREQ for CS 253 Fall 2018 onward.

CS-HU 269 A Brief Intro to Human Computer Interaction (1-0-1)(F,S). Introduction to user-centered design for software programs. The user-centered design cycle, design guidelines, best practices, and evaluation techniques for usable applications. Coursework includes class sessions, online interaction, assignments, and contributing to a project. COREQ: CS 221. (The first offering of this course is Fall 2018)

CS-HU 271 Agile Development (1-0-1)(F,S). Scrum for software development. Scrum process, user stories, acceptance criteria, and test programming. Students work in Scrum teams. A Hatchery Unit (HU) course is a short course to develop specific professional skills for computer science. PREREQ: CS 221.

CS-HU 310 Intro to Database System Usage (1-0-1)(F,S). Application-intensive course on database systems. Topics covered in this course include: data modeling; insertion, deletion, and update statements; basic SQL queries including queries with negation; and database APIs. A Hatchery Unit (HU) course is a short course to develop specific professional skills for computer science. PREREQ: CS 221 (The first offering of this course is Spring 2018)

CS-HU 390 Technical Interviews, Jobs and Careers (1-0-1)(F). Prepare students for computer science technical interviews. Demonstrate how knowledge gained in classes can be used to solve new problems. Encourage teamwork and peer feedback. Learn how to negotiate jobs and manage career growth. A Hatchery Unit (HU) course is a short course to develop specific professional skills for computer science. (Pass/Fail) PREREQ: CS 230, CS 253, and CS 321.

CS-HU 398 Current Topics in Computer Science (1-0-1)(F, S). Explore current topics in computer science from industry and academic perspectives. PREREQ: CS 230 and CS 321. (The first offering of this course is Fall 2018)